Shelby visits Gadsden, speaks at Hardin Center

Thursday

Jan 13, 2011 at 8:51 PMJan 13, 2011 at 8:52 PM

The current Social Security system is not sustainable, according to Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby.Shelby spoke Thursday morning to a group of local officials at the Hardin Center before going to town hall meetings in Anniston and Centre. He makes at least one visit to each county in the state annually.

By Andy PowellTimes Staff Writer

The current Social Security system is not sustainable, according to Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby.Shelby spoke Thursday morning to a group of local officials at the Hardin Center before going to town hall meetings in Anniston and Centre. He makes at least one visit to each county in the state annually.Shelby was scheduled to speak to government students at Gadsden City High School, but because schools were closed, a meeting was set up with local officials.Re-elected in November to his fifth term, Shelby said upping the retirement age would “prolong Social Security” and “would do wonders.”“If you’re drawing Social Security right now, you’re fine,” Shelby said. “You young people ... you’d think I was a fool if I told you Social Security’s fine ... ”He said the retirement age could be increased over several years to perhaps 70 or 72, because people are living longer and remaining productive longer.“It would prolong the Social Security fund for the baby boomers, is what I’m saying,” Shelby said.Baby boomers are the generation born between 1946 and 1964, and the first of those reached retirement age this year. “To sit here and tell you it’s (Social Security) going to be actuarially sound for all the baby boomers and young people, that’s nonsense,” Shelby said, adding that the Social Security tax would have to be doubled or tripled to fully fund the system for younger people.“But,” he said, “we can do some positive things to prolong Social Security ... will we is a different question, isn’t it?”Shelby said the United States owes $14 trillion, and “we can’t pay that back.” Neither can the government continue to borrow money for operations. “We can’t sustain that. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, it doesn’t matter. We can’t do it as a nation,” Shelby said.That means tough decisions will have to be made. “We need to look at every program up there,” Shelby said, “and say, ‘where can we cut?’”He said programs could be cut 10 percent across the board as part of “belt tightening.”Shelby would like to see consideration of “freezing” the federal budget, which would reduce the gap between spending and revenue.He said it might not be popular to be a member of Congress or the president in the next few years because “it’s going to be bloody and nasty.”Shelby expects some to argue for specific programs, but said the “well-being of all of us” should come first.Asked about security measures at public meetings in Alabama in the wake of the shootings in Arizona, Shelby said he’s received death threats over the years. He’s called federal marshals to meetings because of the threats, but said he’s never reported them because it “aids and abets all that.”“But I refuse to be intimidated,” Shelby said. “I refuse to hide, and I’m going to continue to have open meetings.”He said it would be a good idea for Capitol Police to coordinate congressional visits with local law enforcement.“We do have a lot of controversial subjects. We have different (ideologies). Sometimes we have heated discussions in public meetings,” Shelby said. “It wouldn’t hurt a thing to do this, I think we have good security.”

Online Services

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Gadsden Times ~ 401 Locust St. Gadsden, AL 35901, Gadsden, AL 35901 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service